


Could've Been Worse

by AcidicPrince



Series: One Shots [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Dark Tony, Hurt Tony Stark, Oblivious Steve Rogers, One Shot, Other, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Tony Feels, Tony-centric, but not really, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-11-19 13:15:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11314164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AcidicPrince/pseuds/AcidicPrince
Summary: Just after the vigilante Avengers have been pardoned and move back to the states, after all of Tony's hard work, the team gets called to fight but the chemistry is still a bit off. The battle is supposed to be quick and easy seeing as it's something they've faced before but something goes wrong and against what everyone thinks, Tony is the one to help.Or Tony is still salty over Rhodey falling and Steve having not even glanced back, and he definitely lets Steve know how he feels.





	Could've Been Worse

**Author's Note:**

> I'm salty.  
> Tony's salty.  
> I love Steve but I also want to crush him.

"Stark! There's a party comming your way!" Clint yells throught the coms, watching a swarm of chitauri whiz past after a streak of red and gold.

"Got it Barton."

Without a second thought he raised the micro missiles located in the extra bulk of the armor's shoulders and fired after they locked onto each of their targets. A sickening crunch sounded as they hit their marks and blasted through the alien's sternums, leaving gaping holes in their wake. The wounded chitauri fell to the ground in heavy heaps, gurgling lowly as blood bubbled out of their mouths.

There was a flash of glowing red that could've been mistaken for fire out of the corner of his eye but Tony knew it was the witch. He dipped down lower to rip through the circle of enemies that surrounded Wanda, giving her an innocent thumbs up as she snarled, "I don't need your baby sitting, Stark!"

"Just helping out a teammate." He responded quietly, not loud enough to transmit through the coms though.

He decided to soar higher and check around the area, making sure none of the chitauri strayed from the set battle diameter. They were fighting just outside New York city and couldn't afford to have it leak into the busy streets. Well, he could afford it financially but if the reinstated Avengers were hit just after being 'welcomed' back Tony didn't doubt the people would just force them out again. Hell, even he would hate it if his tower was destroyed again by these freaking aliens.

Spotting Clint awkwardly reaching behind himself for another arrow when his quiver was empty Tony had Jarvis locate as many arrows a possible before gliding lower and plucking the arrows that were still intact out of the corpses they had been shot into. He flew back over to Clint who stood on the top of a broken down church and dumped the arrows he had gathered at his feet.

"You're welcome." He said before Clint even had the chance to open his mouth.

Everything was looking good so far; Natasha was taking out the stragglers on the ground, Steve was whipping his shield around like a Frisbee, Wanda was doing decent for being so new and Sam was directing red wing who was loaded to the brim with finely tuned explosives. Vision, Banner, and Scott decided to stay out of this fight since it seemed pretty simple and didn't need the extra man power. Thor was back in Asgard and Bucky was currently in the middle of a therapy session that no one really wanted to interrupt.

And Rhodey... Well, he was back in the tower, stapled into his leg braces and sat on the couch operating War Machine remotely like a goddamn video game, which Tony knew he hated. Though, Rhodes had insisted it was his duty to help, even if he didn't get to fly or was let go by the military. However, even if he did insist Tony couldn't shake what he had said earlier. "It's humiliating, Tones. Really, I was a Coronel! Highest fuckin' rank in the military and they 'let me go' because of trauma in the force! Bullshit. I can still fly the Iron Patriot, but no, with my legs looking like goddamn accordions they don't want me anywhere near them."

"No, that's not it, you just need time to recover first, they'll let you back on when they know you're okay. And I'm not letting you go back either 'til I know you're okay." Tony had responded, but Rhodey had gone quiet after that. He had plopped himself down on the couch and gripped the remote controlling pad in his hands tightly. Though, he did whisper a faint, "Good luck", when Tony said he was heading off to the battle.

But really the, "Good luck" that Rhodey had sent his way just made him angrier, because his best friend, one of the two people he entrusted his suits with, his _life_ with, couldn't do what he grew up wanting to do today. And the reason behind that is because of Captain America. The most righteous man alive, of course. The man who had betrayed him, and his country and didn't even bat an eye when Rhodey had spiraled out of the sky.

And suddenly, all of Tony Stark's rage came crashing down on him.

Tony was scanning the field to see if anyone needed him when he spotted Rogers slowly being pushed back off the roof of an apartment building that went pretty high up. He shot a few of the chitauri to lessen the Captain's load as he passed by but just as he looked away from him a frantic voice blasted through the coms.

"Iron Man! I'm just about half a foot off this building, most likely going to fall, impact would hurt like a b-"

And then he was falling.

And Tony? He was tempted to just watch him splatter onto the pavement below. But that's unethical now, isn't it?

He had long since turned back in his direction ready to help however he could when he saw Captain American slide the last few inches off of the roof and start hurtling towards the ground. He was there at the last second. Gripping Steve under the biceps Tony hoisted him up so he could better support his weight.

"Oh God, thank-"

"That could've been so much worse huh? Got there just in the nick of time, right Captain?" Tony asked, though his tone didn't have its usual light, sarcastic lilt to it. And now Tony's coms were in a direct line to Steve's, so no one else could hear what he said next. "Could've been real serious, yeah? Maybe a crushed rib cage if you landed wrong. Maybe paralysis."

And then Tony was dropping him, close enough to the ground where all he let out was a grunt when he landed but far enough to the point where his knees ached.

"Steve? Are you okay?" Wanda asked cautiously.

But Steve was distracted, watching Iron Man soar through the sky, viciously ripping the last of the chitauri out of the air. Sending them hurtling to the ground around Steve in a shower of broken limbs, black sludge and blood.

There had been an eerie edge to Tony's voice when he had been speaking to him and to be perfectly honest, it terrified him.


End file.
